By Lane Karney and Kendra Santos for The American Quarter Horse Journal

Shad Mayfield might have thrown his sucker in the dirt on his 2024 rodeo season had it not been for a gritty bay mare he calls “Lollipop.” Both of the 2020 world champion tie-down roper’s hips need medical attention and surgery that’ll sit him down for the better part of a year. But this was not that year, and his decision to grit it out and keep going has everything to do with the roll he has been on since he started riding Figure To Fly, who is this year’s 2024 Nutrena Tie-Down Roping Horse of the Year, presented by AQHA. 

“I’ve always loved horses, and the horses are why I love calf roping,” says Shad, who leads the charge into this year’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in both his main event of tie-down roping and the world all-around race. “I feel like the horse is 75 percent of what we do in our event, and you really have to have a special connection with your horse and a high level of trust to make a good team, because the horse’s part is so crucial. The horse can make a bad calf good or a good calf bad. Depending how they work, it can go either way. 

“My horse decides whether I’m going to get kicked or not, and I have so much faith and trust in Lollipop. She never gets in my way, and she always helps me. I’m not worried about her, and that lets me just focus on doing my own job and makes it so much easier.”

A New Mexico native, Shad bought Lollipop, who’s 14 now, from Mississippi cowboy Andrew Burks in the spring of 2023. Lollipop is a 2010 bay mare by AQHA Superhorse Popular Resortfigure and out of Fastino, who traces to American Quarter Horse Hall of Famer Easy Jet. When they first joined forces, Shad wondered if he’d made a mistake because their styles did not sync up.

“Lollipop and me, we did not have the connection we have now when I first got her,” he says. “I was in a bind and desperate for a horse when I bought her. My horse ‘Rampage’ had just gotten sick, and ‘Platinum’ had just gotten hurt. Lollipop had been the second-place Horse of the Year when Andrew had her, but she and I didn’t mix very well at first. I drove to Louisiana to try her on Easter Day in 2023, and it was her speed that caught my eye. I never realized having a fast horse in the calf roping would feel like stealing, like it does when I ride her now. This girl can run.”

He bought her but, “We butted heads for a good bit when I first got her,” he says. “We didn’t do any good at the first few rodeos I took her to. I hated her. Our timing was terrible, and at one rodeo, I couldn’t even get her backed into the corner. I’d never had a mare before. She did not love her job at that time, and they have to love it to be great. But now that we’ve had some time together, her speed and her scoring set her apart and make her so special.”

Shad and Lollipop really started clicking at last year’s NFR, which was ironic considering he had not planned to ride her there. 

“I’d gotten her in April and hadn’t ridden her in a building before the Finals last year,” he says. “But she worked so dang good there. I’m super pumped and chomping at the bit to ride her at the Thomas & Mack again.”

The beauty of this little bay is that she has been a godsend everywhere. Shad had all year with her in 2024, and she has been spectacular in every possible set of conditions since the talented tandem won the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo in  February. The man they call “Money” was a scorching 6.4 on Lollipop at the Calgary Stampede in early July and won The Daddy of ’Em All in Cheyenne, Wyoming, later that same month. 

“Lollipop was the best horse at all three of those places–inside, outside, short score, long score, it doesn’t matter to her,” says Shad, who was primarily the Lone Ranger in riding her this year, with Shane Hanchey and Blane Cox being the rare exceptions.

How much credit does Shad give this mare for this career regular-season year?

“All of it,” he says. “I wasn’t at 100 percent all year because of my hips. There were things I couldn’t do because of being hurt. If I’d been riding any other horse, I don’t think I could have had this kind of success. I knew Lollipop was the best in every setup, so I just kept backing her in the box with absolute confidence that she was going to do her part to help me win. I rode Platinum at San Antonio and The American (he won both), and won Abilene on Rampage. But I rode Lollipop at the majority of the 80 rodeos I went to this year, start to finish.”

Shad has ridden some great ones over the years, but…

“Lollipop’s the best horse I’ve ever owned, for sure,” he says. “She’s special. She’s bred to be the best, and no other horse can run like her. I feel more confident riding into the NFR this year, and I like to speak things into existence, so I’m going in with the goal of winning two gold buckles.

“We dominated at the big ones this year, and Lollipop knows when it’s a big moment. When we back in the box at a big rodeo with a lot on the line, she knows, and I know. And we both love pressure, so we’re a perfect match.”

Haven Meged’s Seven S Tomahawk, aka “Smoke,” is the reserve 2024 Tie-Down Roping Horse of the Year, and Dylan Hancock’s “Earl” (Major A 2009) finished third in the voting.

Smoke is a 2016 Ranching Heritage-bred bay gelding by Mr Playinstylish and out of the Seven S Zanaday mare Seven S Sassy Zan. Smoke was bred by the AQHA Best Remuda-winning R. T. Stuart Ranch of Waurika, Oklahoma.

Major A 2009 is a 2009 bay son of JR Major Slimwood and out of Kipoco Shy Ann by Poco Bleukip Hancock. He was bred by Toni Girard of Alliance, Nebraska.